The Soda Popper shares the reload function of the Force-A-Nature, where it only has two shells per clip, and reloads its entire clip at once. Compared to the Force-A-Nature, it has a 25% faster reload speed, and compared to the default Scattergun, it has a 50% faster firing speed. The Soda Popper's reload will discard any shells still left over in the chamber.

Equipping the Soda Popper places a "HYPE" meter on the HUD, which fills with damage dealt by any of the Scout's weapons. It takes 350 damage to fill up the HYPE meter, which is approximately 4 point blank shots from the Soda Popper, 18 close range Pistol shots, or 11 swings from the Bat.

When the HYPE meter is full, pressing Alt-Fire (default key: MOUSE2) while the weapon is active activates HYPE mode for 10 seconds, giving the Scout the ability to jump up to five times in mid-air (for a total of six jumps). When HYPE mode is initiated, the player will hear the same noise as being hit with the Disciplinary Action, and the Scout's active weapon will glow bright purple, in addition to the Scout's air jump particles turning purple. The Atomizer has no effect during Hype mode; it will not grant an additional jump or damage the user.

Trivia

Although a can of Crit-a-Cola is strapped to the barrel, a Bonk! Atomic Punch is required instead in the crafting recipe. While coincidental, early versions of the Soda Popper had a can of Bonk! Atomic Punch strapped to the barrel.